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It had been six years since Diane Sojor was able to sink her toes into the sugar white sands of Pensacola Beach or splash in the Gulf of Mexico.

She had never seen the Blue Angels.

All of that changed Friday.

As any local can tell you, the Gulf waters have a magical healing property, and as Sojor left the water ahead of the Blue Angels' dress rehearsal for Saturday, July 12's big show, something happened.

"It was a miracle," she said. "We got back up here, and I could hear again! No one had ever been able to tell me why I couldn't hear (out of her left ear)."

It was good timing, because not too much later the Blue Angels came roaring through the sky loud and clear.

They flipped, rolled and dove with their signature perfection as the endless crowd of people looked up in awe.

"Check these guys out!" Sojor yelled over the roar of the jets, an American flag flapping behind her in the breeze. "They rock!"

The Blues, our Blues, are back a year after Washington politics clipped their wings.

And boy, do they know how to do a homecoming.

They might call it a dress rehearsal, but for the tens of thousands of people on Pensacola Beach, Friday was a full-blown Blues party.

But it was all just preparation for Saturday, July 12.

Everything you've heard about the Pensacola Beach Air Show is true. It's awesome, and now, it's here.

But it's no small task putting it on, or even attending it for that matter. And even the Blue Angels take two days to work out all the kinks and ensure perfection at 2 p.m.

And anytime the Blues are out over the beach, you can bet the crowds will be there, too. They certainly were Friday.

The Sojor family traveled from Ohio for the 75th birthday of Diane's father, Dale, which was Thursday.

They were camped out under one of the hundreds of cabanas that popped up on Pensacola Beach in the early morning.

If you want to see the Blues on Pensacola Beach (you do), you have to get there early.

There's ample real estate on the sand, but it's parking that proves to be tricky.

The Casino Beach and Quietwater Beach parking lots had been long filled by 11 a.m. Friday and will fill much faster Saturday, July 12.

Fortunately, there are trollies running to the Park East and Park West parking lots. And there's always parking on the shoulder, just be sure to be out of the street and not in deep sand.

"I have no idea how many people might be out here," Santa Rosa Island Authority Executive Director W.A. "Buck" Lee said. "But I just talked to one of the vendors, and he said he's selling seven times more than his best show ever. So I think that tells you something."

Want to go?

• WHAT: The Pensacola Beach Air Show.

• WHEN: If you want to have a spot, you'll need to get their early and plan to stay after until the Blues fly at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 12.

Eight-year-old Sam Mouser recreates his own air show maneuvers with an inflatable toy during the Blue Angles air show at Pensacola Beach Friday afternoon. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

The crowd assembled on Pensacola Beach gets and early view of the upcoming beach airshow with this fly over of three Stearman biplanes Friday morning. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Thousands of spectators line the shoreline of Pensacola Beach Friday afternoon, in preparation for the Pensacola Beach Red, White, and Blues air show featuring the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron the Blue Angels. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Thousands of spectators line the shoreline of Pensacola Beach Friday afternoon, in preparation for the Pensacola Beach Red, White, and Blues air show featuring the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron the Blue Angels. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Thousands of spectators line the shoreline at Pensacola Beach Friday afternoon, to watch the Pensacola Beach Red, White, and Blues air show featuring the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron the Blue Angels. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Eight-year-old Sam Mouser recreates his own air show maneuvers with an inflatable toy during the Blue Angles air show at Pensacola Beach Friday afternoon. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Patrick Smith, 7, gets decked out in the newest Blue Angels gear with help from Marlene Henderson before Friday's Blue Angels air show at Pensacola Beach. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com